The fifth Asian Para Games will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from 18 to 24 October 2026. Many para shooters protested fiercely and raised slogans outside the farewell ceremony of the Indian contingent leaving for this. Several para shooters demonstrated outside the venue, alleging corruption and irregularities in the team selection. The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) has rejected the allegations and said that the team was selected entirely on the basis of merit.
The protesters met senior officials, including Indian Paralympic Committee President Devendra Jhajhadia, who tried to convince them to call off the protest. However, the shooters continued to protest and raise slogans.
Also read: Vaibhav Suryavanshi did not get a place in Bihar's Ranji team, know the reason
Questions raised over not being selected despite ranking
Para shooters Sandeep Kumar and Akash were leading the demonstration. He raised questions about not being selected despite his ranking and good performance. Sandeep is ranked third in Asia while Akash is the top ranked shooter. Both also questioned the selection of Rudranksh Khandelwal, whose Asian ranking is 14th.
India's head coach Satyanarayan and Jhajhadia talked to the players and asked them to stop the protest but they did not agree. Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya was present at the farewell ceremony while the protest was going on.
What did the players say?
Akash said that he was not selected because he did not name shooting coach Jai Prakash Nautiyal as his coach. He said, 'My name was deleted for this reason. I have been here for two months. He kept saying that your work is being done. The same reply was received every day, but they did nothing.
P4 50m Free Pistol SH1 shooter Sandeep said that despite showing his certificates, he did not get any assurance from Jhajhadia. He said, 'We showed the documents to Jhajhadia ji and other PCI officials. Rahul Swamy and Vivek Saini, who did not play even a single shooting match, have been made experts. They are misleading people.
Sandeep accused Nautiyal of demanding 50 percent commission from the cash awards received from the government in exchange for ensuring the selection of players. Akash said that the top six players should have been selected as per the guidelines of the Sports Ministry, but these criteria were not followed. He said, 'We can show you the documents. Those who have been selected have not played at the international level. The scores of the trials conducted at the national level were changed.
The shooters also submitted a memorandum to the Director General of Sports Authority of India on Wednesday demanding a high-level investigation. He accused PCI officials and its Shooting Technical Committee of illegally extorting money, blatant corruption and violation of ministry guidelines.